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In a message dated 5/20/03 11:07:21 AM, gw@... writes:

<< I write to the list saying my 12 year old boy, who has been offered
his freedom :), becomes worried about the loss of social scene. I
collect the answers (mailto:gw@...) from all you
great people, and compile the following and send it in with the
original question and a Subject heading: SUMMARY: Social Scene) >>

The reason I don't think that's a good idea is that unschooling and parenting
aren't like web design, where a code works no matter what the motivation of
the programmer was, or whether the programmer was honest.

Personally I do NOT want answers offlist. The discussion is heavily
dependent on how the answers are first worded, for me, because this is
interpersonal stuff and cognitive stuff, not technical stuff.

This is an analogy for a purpose, so go with it instead of just saying "Poof,
not applicable," okay?

In the SCA we have discussions about who should be elevated to peerage
(knighthood, order of the Laurel, etc.) In some kingdoms they do it in
writing and someone summarizes and that goes out batch-like, and without
names.

For me, on a matter involving integrity and personal knowledge, I not only
want to know who said what, but I'd prefer to see them say it. Our kingdom
has those meetings in person, without notes taken even, and we say what we're
going to say in front of the other members of the order who choose to be
there. Who speaks how and after whom and how they choose to say what they
say and what upsets them, all that is important information in the overall
picture of WHY they think what they think.

So there's the other extreme. <g>

An online discussion about unschooling and parenting is halfway between those
two, I think. It's about interpersonal/emotional stuff, rather than
technical. And I can't see faces and glances between people, but it DOES
matter to me whether the information is coming from someone I trust, who has
seemed selfless and generous in the past, whose kids DO have a good
relationship with them, or whether it's just theoretical noise from someone
whose kids were in school last year and might be in next year, who have no
special relationship with them.

To have those recommendations all rolled together in one summary would make
them less pure, less alive, less dynamic. At that point it would be FAQs,
not exchanges. For web design or deck building or cooking, that would be
GREAT!!! Someone collecting the best chocolate pudding recipes, sure!

This is a different type of discussion altogether, though.

Sandra

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In a message dated 5/20/2003 2:03:30 PM Central Daylight Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:

> To have those recommendations all rolled together in one summary would make
>
> them less pure, less alive, less dynamic. At that point it would be FAQs,
> not exchanges. For web design or deck building or cooking, that would be
> GREAT!!! Someone collecting the best chocolate pudding recipes, sure!
>
> This is a different type of discussion altogether, though.
>

I agree. But I've been participating in something that Cindy Cotter invited
me to.

<A HREF="http://h2o.law.harvard.edu/browseProjects.do;jsessionid=F982A5A3203B0C1B2F7183651F4A53C4#H">http://h2o.law.harvard.edu/</A>

Click on Browse Projects to see what's happening. Also read the overview
page.

It's a little difficult to understand at first. But what it is is a
moderator asks a question...say about socialization. Then all the participants go
through and answer the question. Then certain people are assigned to respond to
the responses, and rate the responses, etc. We've been doing a project called
Homeschooling for a few weeks now and it has been interesting.

It is not as dynamic and interpersonal as lists are,--but I think if the
right people were to use it, the easily searchable archive would be a wonderful
resource to have out there on the internet. There are all kinds of subjects out
there already.

Anyone is welcome to participate in the homeschooling project.

Tuck


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